The conventional reviewers’ wisdom about Pixar’s “Cars” movies is that they are colorful and engaging but hardly as breathtaking as much of the other output from that animation studio. There are some who think Pixar should aim for awe-inspiring every time, because why not? Then there are crankier critics who will point out that driverless talking cars just aren’t terribly interesting, and can be a little goofy.

“Cars 3,” directed by Brian Fee from a script by Kiel Murray, Bob Peterson and Mike Rich (the story is credited to a whole other pit crew that includes Mr. Fee), isn’t going to win any converts among those with an animus toward talking cars. But if you can roll with it, the movie is both breezy fun and a pain-free life lesson delivery vehicle.

It begins predictably, with the cheerful, cherry red Lightning McQueen (voiced with the usual winning pep by Owen Wilson) about to zip across another finish line in first place. Except he doesn’t win — he’s beaten by a new, sleek, black-with-purple-highlights racer by the name of Jackson Storm. This brash rookie, who is voiced with apt smarm by Armie Hammer, oozes, “I can’t believe I get to race Lightning McQueen in his farewell season.” Lightning notes that it’s not his farewell season and … well, you get the idea.

Video

A preview of the film.Published OnJune 14, 2017CreditImage by Internet Video Archive

“The racing world is changing,” a friend advises Lightning, and our hero makes a small effort to adapt. Hooking up with a new corporate sponsor, he starts his off-season training at a top-tier site where, apparently, newbies such as Jackson Storm tone up. There, he’s introduced to a plucky performance coach, a yellow car named Cruz Ramirez (voiced by Cristela Alonzo). She responds to Lightning’s frequent angry, pessimistic outbursts with an instruction to “Use that!”

For a while, the movie is content to poke mild fun at America’s enthusiasm for trendy self-help bromides and computer-age enhancement technology. There’s a mild paradox that this entirely digital movie waxes so nostalgic for analog-age stuff: Art Deco diners, big-knob radios, funky garages. Lightning frequently flashes back to the advice and companionship of his old mentor, Doc Hudson (voiced by the great Paul Newman in the first “Cars” movie in 2006, two years before his death, and who is again heard here). Acting on those memories, Lightning eventually persuades Cruz to get out and train with him, old-school style, at a nearby beach.

It’s here that the movie’s pedagogic mode starts, gently, to kick in. Lightning begins to realize that maybe he really is too old to be a champion on the track anymore — so what’s next? And Cruz reveals her thwarted ambition to be a racer, a dream she abandoned out of fear the first time she was told to take her shot. In a quiet but ultimately forceful way, “Cars 3” makes a case against sexism and for the joys of mentorship. Because the “Cars” franchise has been Lightning’s story, the male lead is, by that logic, the initial force moving the female-empowerment theme. That may strike some as a little patronizing. But the Cruz-Lightning dynamic eventually evolves into a genuine friendship that has a lot of appeal.

Along the way, entertaining set pieces, such as a visit to a demolition derby gone wrong, and an evening trading war stories with a group of older racecars headed by Doc Hudson’s guru, a truck named Smokey (voiced by Chris Cooper), keep the story humming quite comfortably. It all builds to a climax that’s entirely satisfying and not particularly overwhelming. And that’s fine. As someone who was nearly traumatized by “Toy Story 3” and reduced to a sniveling wreck by much of “Inside Out,” I welcome the occasional Pixar movie that doesn’t morph me into a quivering jelly mound.

And the lessons are right-on, for adults as well as children. One more thing: If you’re intimidated by the movie’s running time, note that the feature is preceded by a short, “Lou,” which is very sweet and charming, and also that, as is customary with a Pixar movie, the end credits take a while.